Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-05-16-Speech-3-233"
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".
I should like to start by congratulating Mr Cercas, who worked very closely with the Committee on Economic Affairs and the Committee on Women's Rights, resulting in the impressive consensus in today's debate.
The question of pensions is a key political, economic and social question which every government has to address. Some reforms are under way, others are being discussed and others were completed a mere year or two ago. So it is a European problem and the sustainability of pensions is the wager for the next generation. There is a set of policies which, if they are successful at European level, will support and strengthen the sustainability of pensions. The aim of these policies is to increase the rate of growth and employment and they include policies to provide efficient support for parents, so that they can combine work and family, and immigration policies.
However, over and above these general policies, every country needs to reform the system itself, which has been inherited from a previous era of industrial development. This reform is social and economic in nature. I think that it is particularly important, as numerous speakers have stressed, that pensions are no longer the exclusive preserve of Ecofin and budgetary discipline and have been discussed by the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs as well as by the ministers. Pensions are, first and foremost, a social issue, but with huge, serious economic implications.
Of course, under the Treaty, insurance system reforms and policy are national responsibilities. But do not forget that we are also required, that it is a specific objective of the Treaty to safeguard a high level of social protection and sustainable, non-inflationary economic growth. It is therefore important, post Lisbon, that the heads of state have agreed for the first time that they need to work together on pension issues. It is a very important change of direction towards European policies, which illustrates the extent of the problem. With cooperation between the Member States, the reforms will no doubt be more efficient in all the countries.
An initial Commission communication was ordered following Lisbon and has been issued. The subject of pensions has been discussed at all the Councils – in Feira, Nice and Stockholm – and the study to be presented in Göteborg is being prepared by the newly formed Committee on Social Protection. This study will analyse all the problems Member State by Member State and will table proposals on basic principles for sustainable systems. I would just point out that one basic guideline given to this committee concerns the gender dimension. Numerous members mentioned that it is impossible to take a neutral approach to the question of pensions because women face more serious problems and poverty in Europe is closely bound up with the pension system and the economic and social position of women.
What is important is that it was decided post Stockholm to examine the method of open coordination on the question of pensions, taking account, of course, of the question of subsidiarity and the specific problems of each Member States. We are preparing a Commission communication, which will be presented before the summer, in which we try to approach the question of the open coordination on pensions in a more analytical manner.
I must say that this resolution by the European Parliament, assuming that it is approved tomorrow as it stands today, will provide strong support for this coordinated effort to reform pensions in the European Union. I think that this new chapter which is being opened at European level, the chapter of collaboration on pensions, will allow for new forms of cooperation between the Commission, the Council and Parliament. And may I remind you that the Commission specifically supported the need for the European Parliament to collaborate with the High Level Committee on the subject of social protection and that this collaboration is now under way.
Honourable Members, I think that the fact that we have opened up this chapter and given a European dimension to the question of pensions will give the governments in all the Member States the support and backing they need in order to bring about sustainable reform, taking account of the economic and, more importantly, the social dimension."@en1
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